When Kyra Evans’ older siblings were athletes at Del Norte High, she was young. Very young.
Sister Kaia was more than six years older and brother Kale was 13 years older.
That means she was 12 when Kaia graduated and went on to play lacrosse at Cal and just 5 when Kale was a senior.
“The game looked like so much fun when my sister was playing,’’ the youngest child said. “I couldn’t sit in the stands and watch them play.
“I would run around the track, but when I got to third grade I got into the sport. I would bring my stick to their game and play wall ball the whole time.’’
She couldn’t wait to become a Nighthawk like her siblings.
Now the leading goal scorer at Del Norte, the 5-foot-3½ junior center midfielder has scored 56 goals to go with nine assists and 48 ball controls.
“She’s a downhill runner to the ball,’’ Del Norte coach Jose Soto said. “That’s the hardest thing to teach girls.
“Her game knowledge is fantastic because she’s faced a lot of adversity in the game,” he said. “She has progressively grown into a better player each season.’’
Del Norte is off to a 10-2 start in nonleague games.
But that first season did not come quickly enough for her. She tried field hockey in the fall to the time until spring when lacrosse season started.
“It killed me waiting for spring to arrive,’’ Evans said.
Once it got here, Evans took off.
“The sport had everything I needed,’’ she said. “I am a finesse player who is very loud on the field. I can get past people pretty easily and that’s the best feeling to leave a defender in the dust.
“I love to fake one way and go another. The defender kind of disappears.’’
Evans, who has lived in the same house in 4S Ranch her whole life, has made a name for herself at Del Norte and playing on her club team, the SoCal Devils, which operates out of Rancho Penasquitos.
Exceling at lacrosse helped her fill the void at home after her siblings left for college.
As difficult as it was on her siblings to leave home, it was even tougher on Kyra.
Every time they came home for holidays and over breaks, she couldn’t wait to spend time with them.
“I cherished those moments when they came home for a couple of days,’’ she recalled. “I tried to get older faster so I could catch up with them, but it didn’t work.
“I am sure they got tired of me always being around when they came home.’’
Like her siblings, school comes first before lacrosse for Evans.
“Bad grades mean no lacrosse,’’ Evans said. “My parents made it clear a long time ago that school comes first.’’
About to enter an important recruiting window for colleges, it gets serious now for next year’s seniors.
Evans feels her game still needs some refining. Her speed, she said, needs improvement even more.
Evans gladly itted she is ready when the time comes to head off to college.
“I know I’ll have to do it all by myself,’’ she said. “I can cook, clean and do my own laundry.
“I always wanted to play college lacrosse, so I learned the fundamentals of life that go along with leaving home.’’
Evans stepped away from lacrosse for a time back in 2019. Two concussions forced her to stop playing.
Her first concussion taught her there is more than lacrosse when the headaches became very intense.
The second concussion came about four months later courtesy of a wayward stick.
“I had to take time off from school,’’ she said. “I healed pretty quickly, but there were a lot of headaches both times.
“I try to be more shifty now so they can’t hit me with their sticks again.’’
Pretty soon, the rest of the family will be watching Kyra playing playing college lacrosse and coming home for holiday breaks.
